A native of Moorhead, MN, and winner of the 2021 American Prize Ernst Bacon Award, trombonist Cole Bartels is currently based in the Madison, WI area. He is the Instructor of Low Brass at Concordia University Wisconsin, and is a freelance performer and educator around the Midwest. Wearing many musical hats, he can be heard performing with ensembles such as the Madison Symphony Orchestra, the Latin Pride Orquesta, Ensemble Present, and in various churches, musical theatre productions, chamber ensembles, and other settings around the Midwest. Bartels will graduate from the University of Wisconsin, Madison in May 2022 with a Doctor of Musical Arts degree in trombone, and a minor in jazz studies. He also holds degrees and certifications from the University of Tennessee – Knoxville, and Concordia College (Moorhead, MN). His previous teachers include Mark Hetzler, Dr. Alex van Duuren, Dr. Nat Dickey, and Dr. Ed Huttlin. Cole has participated in master classes with renowned trombonists including Ian Bousfield, Derek Hawkes, Casey Jones, Scott Hartman, Gabriel Rice, Randy Hawes, Dr. Sarah Paradis, Marshall Gilkes, and more.
As an educator, in addition to his faculty appointment at Concordia University, Bartels is on staff at various high schools and middle schools around southern Wisconsin as a private lesson and sectional coach. He serves as an adjudicator for WSMA solo/ensemble festivals, and maintains a private studio of low brass students of all ages. He previously held appointments as a graduate teaching assistant for the trombone studio and musicology department at UW Madison, as well as the trombone studio at the University of Tennessee.
Bartels is a strong advocate for the music of the music of our time, and has committed himself to the intense study and performance of contemporary music by engaging in extensive commissioning projects. One of his most recent collaborative efforts with composer Brian Mark, "Your huddled masses yearning to breathe free" for trombone, delay pedal, and video installation, was selected as a winner of the 2020 MOZAIK Philanthropy Future Art Awards. Bartels attended the nief-norf festival in 2018, and attended the Bang on a Can summer festival in 2016. His forthcoming debut solo album, On the Brink, features many of his commissioning projects and celebrates the capabilities of the trombone in contemporary performance. The album will be released by cmntx records in April 2022.